Tanya Ragan's company, Wildcat Management, handles the old
restaurant building at 807 Park St. in downtown Dallas. The
restaurant closed awhile back, the windows are boarded up and, if
you're interested in the property, you might have to step around
human waste to get in the door.

The problem? The building is a block from The Bridge, the city's
homeless shelter and assistance center. Ragan said the shelter's
open-door policy attracts criminals who eat, shower and get health
care there and then hit the streets to prey on downtown.

The police agree that The Bridge is used as a base by some
criminals. And they have begun a series of meetings with Bridge
management to figure out how to identify top offenders and either
jail them or get them into intervention programs.

"We want to identify 50 individuals having a hard time complying
with the laws in Dallas and the rules of The Bridge," said Deputy
Chief Vincent Golbeck, who heads the central patrol division. "It
would be a collaborate partnership on triaging each case."

Those offenders represent a small portion of the 1,200 people
who use the center each day, but they are among the toughest cases,
said Jay Dunn, managing director of The Bridge, which opened two
years ago.

"We're oriented in a way to provide real opportunities for 95
percent of our target population," he said. "But that does lead to
a group that is cycling through hospitals, jails and encampments at
high cost to them and high cost to the larger community.

"So we do several things to try to address those needs, and
we're getting better and better at that every quarter."

Dunn said he's working with police and prosecutors to identify
chronic offenders who stay at The Bridge but won't participate in
programs that could help them. They might have to face a judge
before they get into intervention services.

But Dunn said he doesn't want to close the door on people just
because they have significant criminal histories.

"It's not in keeping with our mission to say, 'Given your
history, you're not likely to succeed.' What good will it do to
have them on the streets? They need to be here."

Lt. Anthony Williams, daytime supervisor for the Central
Business District, said the meetings began after his officers noted
that a disproportionate number of people arrested downtown gave The
Bridge as their address.

"Our concern is that some policies at The Bridge unintentionally
contribute to The Bridge being perceived ... as a fixed base of
operation for the criminal element in downtown," Williams said.

Williams said he'd like to work see those offenders get into
drug rehabilitation, counseling or other programs to stop them. He
said downtown crime is down 9 percent so far this year, compared
with the same period last year, and he's determined to maintain
that drop or do better.

The April 26 "Impact Offenders" list for downtown includes 24
people who use The Bridge as their home address. They have had a
total of 505 arrests and 1,009 offenses.

Police said offenses committed by the homeless tend to be
nuisance crimes, property crimes or crimes against other homeless
people. But the damage can be significant.

Golbeck said some of the homeless are ex-offenders who can't
find jobs because no one will hire them. They aren't necessarily
the problem.

"We're concerned with those that are currently offending," he
said. "They may be out there selling drugs, involved in individual
robberies or preying on homeless. Those are the ones we want."

Ragan said her Park Street property was broken into in March by
thieves who stripped out the copper tubing and stole kitchen
equipment. Damage and loss was valued at $275,000. She said police
suspect the break-in was done by four or five men who stay at The
Bridge and are thought to be hitting buildings throughout
downtown.

In addition, a storage unit behind the building has been
trashed, the landscaping was removed so that people can't sleep
behind it, and the lot is regularly littered with canned goods,
clothing and other waste. Dunn said he has offered to have workers
clean up her property, but Ragan has hired someone to clean the lot
once a week.

"My issue isn't with helping people who need it," Ragan said.
"The problem I have with The Bridge is The Bridge has become a
hideout spot for the criminals.

"It's supported and funded by the city, and our taxpayers pay
for feeding and housing people who abuse the system," she said.
"The people who need The Bridge won't even go to The Bridge because
they're targets for the others."

Dallas's new police chief, David Brown, discussed the issue
Wednesday at a crime summit for the Central Patrol Division. He
noted that the city needs more housing for people transitioning
from the shelter into longer-term housing. That would help ease the
load on The Bridge, which would help the situation overall.